Mr. Tian Kai, the top leader of Henan Museum makes a speech at the opening ceremony.     The visitors are staring the masterpieces of glass.     the scene of the opening ceremony

The exhibition of European glass art treasures unveiled at Henan Museum on Mar. 26, 2015. All these masterpieces of glass came from Bragg National Art Museum of the Czech Republic.

All of 211 pieces of glass showed in Henan Museum came from the beginning of twentieth Century of Ancient European. The central plains people can enjoy the art miracle in recent 2000 years.

Ms. Zita, the Bragg National Art Museum addressed at the opening ceremony. Ms. An Jiayao, the Chinese Archaeological Research Academy of Social Sciences researcher and the director of Research Office of the Han and Tang Dynasties, Mr. Tian Kai, the top leader of Henan Museum also made a speech successively. Some other cultural department colleagues and spectators attended the opening ceremony.

Bragg National Art Museum was founded in 1885. The museum is based on collection, display of ancient and modern crafts mainly. The collections cover of the ancient to modern times of European glass, porcelain, metal, wood products, decorative stones, watches and clocks, embroidery, print, furniture and other categories. Especially more than 500,000 masterpieces glass showed in China this time were collected from the Bohemia arts and crafts.

General introduction of the collections in Bragg National Art Museum 

Chapter 1

Ancient Glass

The earliest known glass was melted around 5000 B.C. in northern Mesopotamia. Vitreous glazes that coated the surfaces of small ceramic wares are regarded as the first glass objects. In c. 1600 B.C., all-glass hollowware appeared in Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Near East. The most common type was produced by winding glass filaments around a clay or sand core. Glassmaking techniques included core-formed glass. A crucial landmark in the history of glass, the invention of the blowpipe by the Phoenicians in the first century B.C. facilitated the production of larger and more sophisticated artefacts. In the Hellenistic period, Alexandria and the region of present-day Syria were the centres of glass manufacture. In the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D., the art of glassmaking spread from those areas further to the west within the Roman Empire.

Chapter 2

Glass in the Middle Ages

In the Early Middle Ages (after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 410), glassmaking centres sprung up in the regions of the Rhineland and Meuse River, northern France and northern Italy (Lombardy). Glass tainted with green or brown was used to make hot-formed vessels, such as beakers, goblets and bowls. After a long hiatus, contacts between the West and East were revived in the 12th and 13th centuries, when trade relations had been established between Italy (especially Venice) and the Near East. From there, innovative techniques extended to western Europe (e.g. enamel painting). In Europe, the High and particularly the Late Middle Ages were marked by a flourishing production of hollowware (functional glass) made of greenish-hued Forest Glass. Hot decoration was prevalent among the decorative techniques employed. During this period, stained-glass windows (painting on glass) attained a prominent role, namely in church architecture. Besides their decorative function, stained-glass windows had an edifying purpose, teaching the largely illiterate congregations the history of salvation (Biblia pauperum).

Chapter 3

Glass of the Renaissance Period

Around the mid-15th century, the first objects in the millefiori and vetro a filigrana (glass with threads) techniques were made in Venice, Italy. These methods of decorating glass enjoyed the greatest popularity in the 16th and 17th centuries. Hot-formed glass, optical decoration and crackle glass were some of the glass-refining processes of this period. With the emigration of glass masters from Venice, glass made in imitation of Venetian products (fa?on de Venise) spread throughout western and central Europe. In the last third of the 17th century, glass cutting and engraving was revived in central Europe. Caspar Lehmann (1563– or 1564–1622), a court glass and gemstone engraver, was employed at the Prague Court of Emperor Rudolf II (The House of Habsburg). Apart from carved glass, glass-decorating techniques of the Renaissance included diamond-point engraving (Venice, Catalonia, Central Europe), enamel painting (Venice, Central Europe), cold decoration – with surfaces painted in oils and mastic (Central Europe) and, of course, decoration of glass while hot. Underpainted glass (reverse painting on glass sheets) was another popular cold-working technique.

Chapter 4

Glass of the Baroque and Rococo Periods

In the Baroque period, important technical innovations were introduced into the glass-melting process in order to achieve purity in glass. In central Europe, these endeavours were rewarded with success in the last quarter of the 17th century when high-quality clear, colourless glass was first produced. At that time, in Prussia, Johann Kunckel (1637?–1703) succeeded in melting a red glass coloured by adding gold chloride to the batch (Goldrubinglas, gold ruby glass). In England, in 1675–1676, George Ravenscroft (1632–1683) pioneered the use of lead oxide in preparing the glass batch. In France, Bernard Perrot (1640–1709) achieved remarkable results both in glass technology and decoration at the royal glassworks in Orléans, France. Due to the availability of superior colourless glass, wheel-engraving and cutting were the principal methods of cold decoration. Apart from the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, these glass-refining methods were used mainly in neighbouring Germany and the Netherlands, the latter also being the foremost centre for diamond-point engraving. In central Europe, the 17th century was the peak period for enamel-painted glass. Schwarzlot (grisaille in French) was another method of decoration. Double-walled glass was a unique decorative technique (used for beakers, goblets, plates and other objects) that was popular in Bohemia and also to some degree across the border, in Saxony, during the first half of the 18th century. Many superb examples of underpainted glass were created in central Europe during the Baroque period.

Chapter 5

Glass of the First Half of the 19th Century (Neoclassicism, the Empire Style, Biedermeier, Rococo Revival)

During the Neoclassical period, glass production was influenced by the general admiration of Classical Antiquity. Glassware was now thin-walled and of simple, mostly cylindrical forms. The most prevalent decorative techniques included glass cutting, occasionally complemented with engraving, and painting in polychrome enamels. New types of hollow glass appeared during the Empire Style period (under England’s influence). These vessels included vinegar and oil cruets, water carafes, large, short-stemmed beakers (known as celery bowls), salts, jelly bowls, and other forms. In this connection, a new type of cut came into use (known as the raised-diamond cut). First employed in the British Isles in the late 18th century, this ornamental pattern rapidly spread to the European continent. In England, France, Brandenburg and Bohemia, glassware with porcelain-like objects encased in the glass (known as sulphides) was much sought after. Romanticism's love affair with colours led to a strong emphasis on coloured glass in glass manufacture. Glass made in a wide range of colours became even more popular during the Biedermeier and Rococo Revival periods. Bohemia was the leading manufacturer of this type of glass in central Europe. Highly accomplished European glass companies included the Baccarat glassworks in France, and those in Stourbridge and Birmingham in England. Cutting, wheel-engraving (with ever more intricate designs) and painting continued to be staple glass-finishing techniques.

Chapter 6

Glass of the Second Half of the 19th Century (Historical Style)

The early years of the second half of the 19th century in western Europe (and especially in England) were marked by a reform movement that strove to elevate the aesthetic level of craftsmanship. This movement turned to Historical Styles for inspiration. Glass engravers who had left Bohemia and settled in the British Isles were highly instrumental in introducing new glass-decorating methods. In central Europe, Ludwig Lobmeyr (1829–1917) had a prominent place in glass production. From the 1860s, he specialized in exquisite glass made in the Renaissance and Baroque Revival styles. In the 1870s, he expanded his glass output to include oriental patterns. In Italy, Antonio Salviati (1816–1890) strove to revive the traditional Venetian art of glassmaking. In France, the world-renowned glass artist and technologist Emile Gallé (1846–1904) was professionally active in Nancy. The 19th century saw the flourishing of a new production method – pressed, or rather mould-pressed, glass. The foremost producers of this type of glass were based in the United States. The principal companies that utilized this method of glass decoration in Europe were centred in France (Cristalleries de Baccarat) and England (e.g. glass companies in Birmingham and Stourbridge). Owing to the relatively cheap yet highly-qualified manual labour, this technology was also adopted in the Czech lands at the end of the 19th century.

The collection masterpieces of glass collected in Bragg National Art Museum, is praised on a complete collection of the glass craft arts. In addition to the Renaissance, Baroque, Biedermeier style, the youth style, historicism art works, there are also many modern glass craft arts collected and exhibited in Bragg National Art Museum.

This Chinese Tour is a cultural exchange between Czech and China great event. It is also the first large-scale exhibition in the Far East Area of Bragg National Art Museum. The glass wares exhibited this time were selected from ancient, medieval to modern and all important periods.

It was said that the exhibition will last to jun. 14, 2015.